Societe Belge de Musicologie

Directions to Singers in Writings of the Early Renaissance

Author(s): Don Harrán
Source: Revue belge de Musicologie / Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Muziekwetenschap, Vol. 41
(1987), pp. 45-61
Published by: Societe Belge de Musicologie
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 DIRECTIONS TO SINGERS IN WRITINGS
OF THE EARLY RENAISSANCE*

DON HARRAN

(Jerusalem)

Ever since Guido d'Arezzo drew a clear distinction between a musicus and
a cantor('', it has been the tradition to discuss music either as an ars specula
or, from a practical point of view, as an ars componendi or ais cantandi. In
following report I shall be concerned with music solely as an ars cantandi: t
subject is two early writings offering instructions to the singer. The first of
two was composed as a Dialogus de musica (c. 1500) by Rutgerus Sycambe
the second as a Libellus de rudimentis musices (1529) by Biagio Rossetti('3. Ru
rus' treatise belongs to the German humanist tradition of writings on singing
tradition began with Conrad von Zabern (De modo bene cantandi choralem can
in multitudine personarum, 1474)(4) and Matthaeus Herbenus (De natura can
ac miraculis vocis, c. 1496)(5), and continued, at a later date, with Sebald Heyd
Adrian Petit Coclico, Hermann Finck and Gaspar Stoquerus'6). Rossetti's writi
on the other hand, belongs to the Italian tradition, inaugurated in the mid-fifteen

* Originally read as a paper at a Colloquium on Early Vocal Music held at the University of Lo
in September 1981.

'" Regulae musicae rhythmicae, in Martin Gerbert, ed., Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra p
simum (St. Blaise: Typis San-Blasianis, 1784, 3 vols.; reprint, Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 19
II, 25.
'' See edition by Fritz Soddemann (Cologne: Arno Volk, 1963; the Dialogus, originally thi
folios, is preserved as one of thirty-four treatises in a codex in Cologne, Historisches Archiv). F
a general study, cf. Heinrich Hiischen, <Rutgerus Sycamber de Venray und sein Musiktrak
Studien zur Musikgeschichte des Rheinlands: Festschrift zum 80. Geburtstag von Ludwig Schiede
mair (Cologne: Arno Volk, 1956), 34-45.
" Published by Stefano e fratelli de Nicolinis de Sabio in Verona; facs. ed., New York: Br
Brothers, 1968.
(4) Published by Peter Schoffer in Mainz; for a modem edition, see Karl-Werner Gumpel,
Musiktraktate Conrads von Zabern >, Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur: Abhandlu
gen der Geistes- und sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse, 1-7 (1956), 260-280.
(5' Cf. Herbeni traiectensis 'De natura cantus ac miraculis vocis', ed. J. Smits van Waesber
Cologne: Arno Volk, 1957.
'6' Heyden, De arte canendi (Nuremberg: Johannes Petri, 1540; facs. ed., New York: Br
Brothers, 1969); Coclico, Compendium musices (Nuremberg: Johann Berg & Ulrich Neuber, 1
facs. ed., Kassel: Barenreiter, 1954); Finck, Practica musica (Wittenberg: heirs of Georg R
1556; facs. ed., Bologna: Amaldo Fomi, 1969); Stoquerus, De musica verbali libri duo
Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, 6486, fols. 1-40, c. 1570; cf. Edward E. Lowinsky, ?A Treatis
Text Underlay by a German Disciple of Francisco de Salinas,, Festschrift Heinrich Bess
[Leipzig: VEB Deutscher Verlag, 1961], 231-251).

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century by Johannes Gallicus in his Ritus canendi vetustissimus et novus (c. 1460)(7),
and reaching a climax, in the later sixteenth century, in the manuals on diminution
by Girolamo dalla Casa, Giovanni Luca Conforto and Giovanni Battista Bovicel-
li.(). Both traditions, the German and Italian, were overshadowed by the larger
tradition of writings on music as an ars componendi: the theorists usually addressed
their remarks to composers, indeed, only infrequently did they offer practical
advice to singers. All the more precious, then, are the works of Rutgerus, Rossetti
and others for the information they contain on the art of singing. These works
have not been systematically studied, though it is clear that they should be if we
are to understand what was expected of singers in the performing practice of the
early Renaissance.
Rutgerus appears to have been active in the second part of the fifteenth
century: he was born around 1456 in Venray, in the Rhineland; he joined the
monastery of Boddeken, then that of Molenbeke bei Rinteln; his last place of
residence was the Augustinian canonical college Hoenigen bei Neuleiningen,
where he can be traced as a canonicus regularis until 1507(9). He composed his
treatise as a dialogue between himself and his friend Thomas Stralen, a singing
teacher at Molenbeke. The incipit reads De recta, congrua devotaque cantione
dialogus (<A Dialogue on Proper, Fitting and Devout Song>), and it soon becomes
clear that for song to be <<proper, fitting and devout> it must be based on a sound
method of singing, one whose chief characteristics are correct pronunciation and
natural breathing. The author criticizes those who fail to ponder the words, the
< divine praises >>, therefore do not care an iota about good singing, rather perform
everything according to habit>>0''. Bad habits>>, he explains, <impede correct
singing, because what is ingrown can only difficultly be removed>>?). The reason
for cultivating ?good habits>> is to do justice to the sacred words (<<the divine
song ought to be adorned by [use of] proper and worthy customs>>)(2). But Rutge-
rus did not confine good singing to sacred music only, indeed, he recognizes that
it cuts across the generic distinction between sacred and secular to constitute a
prerequisite for performing music in general. < Religious people ought to maintain

(7) In Edmond de Coussemaker, ed., Scriptorum de musica medii aevi nova series (Paris: A. Durand,
1854-I876, 4 vols.; reprint, Milan: Bollettino Bibliografico Musicale, 1931), IV, 298-396.
' Casa, II vero modo di diminuire (Venice: A. Gardano, 1584; facs. ed., Bologna: Arnaldo Forni,
1970); Conforto, Breve e facile maniera d'essercitarsi a far passaggi (Rome, 1593 [?]; facs. ed.,
New York: Broude Brothers, 1978, also facs. ed. with Germ. tr. by Johannes Wolf, Berlin: M.
Breslauer, 1922); Bovicelli, Regole, passaggi di musica, madrigali, e motetti passeggiati (Venice:
Giacomo Vincenti, 1594; facs. ed., Kassel: Barenreiter, 1957).
(9) We owe this information to a Vita that Rutgerus appended to his treatise.
"' <<?Pariter, qui tales sunt, ut divine laudes eis non sapiant, ii nihil curant de bono modo cantandi,
sed omnia faciunt secundum consuetudinem > (Dialogus, ed. Soddemann, p. 4).
" << Etiam mala consuetudo rectam impedit cantionem, quia, quod inolevit, difficulter potest amoveri >>
(ibid., p. 17).
(1' <... cum debeat cantus divinus bonis et optimis moribus adornari>> (ibid., p. 21).

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their practice and secular people theirs>>; still, he insists, ?both should concur in
[respecting] rightful customs and gestures>> (3).
By <<rightful customs and gestures>> Rutgerus means careful diction, a clean
and clear voice, and good articulation. Singers are warned against a slipshod
pronunciation of vowels, indeed, ?when the vowels are not [properly] expressed,
you produce a certain sound, [to be sure], though not the right pronunciation>>'4).
They are warned against the corruption of vowel sounds through a strained or
nasalized rendering (<<there are some who, affecting an unnatural pronunciation,
do not enunciate the vowels [as they should], but rather say Daminos vabiscom
and similar things ?) (5). Rutgerus singles out the monastery of Boddeken for special
praise - there the singers were particularly anxious to articulate with commas
and rests. <<Highly praiseworthy, then is the monastery of Boddeken, from which
emerged a particularly beautiful manner of singing with proper points [of articu-
lation] and proper rests, all of which pertains, I confess, to harmonious song>>(6).
The purpose of these commas and rests, we are told, is, like beats, to keep the
singers together (<<lest anyone be allowed to race ahead or slow down more than
is suitable>>)(). Yet singers seem not to have kept together, for Rutgerus bemoans
the absence of articulated singing in certain monasteries of his order - ?if only
this practice of points [of articulation] were in use in all monasteries of our order!
Singing would improve, no doubt, and be more joyful, more uniform>(8').
Rutgerus recognizes a basic distinction between singing syllabaliter (<by syl-
lable?) and singing dictionaliter (?by word?). He posits the word as a minimal
unit of articulation, reprehending ?the custom of some religious people who sing
psalms more by syllables than by words, which not only is exceedingly childish
but also hinders the understanding of what is being sung>'9'. Thus the commas
to which Rutgerus refers should be placed after words, and never after syllables.
Rutgerus did not include musical examples, but we may illustrate his ideas on
singing dictionaliter by consulting a contemporary treatise, the Enchiridion musices
(1509) by Nicolaus Wollick [Volcyr](20). Using diagonal marks (virgulae), Wollick

(13) ?Simul religiosi modum suum tenere debent et seculares suum; utrique tamen congruere debent
rectis moribus et gestibus> (ibid., p. 20).
(14) ?Nam cum non exprimuntur vocales, fit quidam sonus, non vox...? (ibid., p. 41).
15) ... sunt, qui sua voce facta non naturali vocales non exprimant, sed dicant Daminos vabiscom et
similia... (ibid., p. 41).
(16) ?Unde multum laudabilis est domus Bodicensis, ex qua pulcherrimus modus exivit cantandi cum
virgulis et pausis debitis, quod tamen, fateor, ad congruam cantionem pertinet? (ibid., p. 17).
(17) ?Quam maxime deceant pause, probat discantus, in quo omnia per virgulas et pausas et tempora
distinguuntur, ne alicui liceat precurrere vel tardare magis, quam congruum fuerit? (ibid., p. 22).
11) 0O si iste modus virgularum in omnibus monasteriis nostri ordinis foret; sine dubio melius cantaretur
et iocundius et uniformius> (loc. cit.).
"'1' Attamen non laudamus morem aliquorum religiosorum, qui cantant potius sillabaliter quam dic-
tionaliter psalmodiam, quoniam nimis est puerile, simul impedit intellectum canendorum?> (ibid.,
p. 23).
'") 3rd ed., Paris: Jehan Petit & Francois Regnault, 1512 (facs. ed., Geneva: Minkoff, 1972).

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divides the text of his examples into separate words (<?Qui / parce / seminat. /
Discumbente / eo / in / domo > etc.) (". In delivering the text, Wollick distinguishes
between three durations, represented by the basic shapes of long, breve and
semibreve, as in the following example(22):

a a3 4a .4n * l a a * l a * In.
Et / eritis / odio / omnibus / hominibus. / Operantium / mendaciua.

Here the accented syllables receive longs or breves, and the unaccented ones
semibreves. All final syllables are marked by breves: the latter divide the words
by extending their final syllables. The commas of which Rutgerus speaks may be
identified with the diagonal marks in Wollick's musical example, indeed, Rutgerus
calls them virgulae. They are meant to clarify the structure of the text and to
assist in its proper delivery (<the accent confers great beauty on Latin speech,
but when speech is destroyed by a syllabic pronunciation, its beauty perishes
altogether>>) 2'. Though he does not say -o outright, Rutgerus appears to have
had in mind a differentiation of syllables through changing note values. Thus
shorter notes would fall on unaccented portions of words while longer notes would
fall on their accented portions or at the ends of words.
It is interesting, at this juncture, to compare Rutgerus' remarks on pronuncia-
tion and articulation with similar instructions included, some four centuries later,
in the Vatican Edition of the Liber Usualis'2'. In the latter one reads that <plain-
song being vocal and Latin music, neither its rhythm nor its melody can be rightly
appreciated or sung apart from the meaning of the text, the correct pronunciation
of the words, and their proper grouping into phrases. In other words, there must
be good diction... For good diction we must also cultivate a rhythmic sense; verbal
rhythm and accent are of first-rate importance. It must always be remembered
that while the accented syllable is the vigorous, life-giving, arsic element in a Latin
word, the final and weak penultimate syllables are always soft, relatively weak,
and thetic. Thus there is movement and repose, rise and fall- rhythm of an
elementary kind - in every Latin word>>. The examples given in the Liber are
the words Pater noster, Dominus, ad te, with rising-falling curlicues drawn over
one or two words as separate units:

Pa - ter n6 - ster, D6 - mi - nus, ad te

'21) Enchiridion, fol. g vv (for text, cf. 2 Cor. 9:6, Mat. 9:10).
22 Ibid., fol. g vi (for text, cf. Mat. 10:22, 24:9, Ecclesiasticus 51:3).
(3) Dialogus, p. 23.
(24) From <<The reading and pronunciation of liturgical Latin>>, Liber Usua
xxxv-vi.

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 Thus Rutgerus' instructions about singing dictionaliter are timely for the per-
formance of chant today, at least according to the standards set by the Benedictine
monks of Solesmes.
Equally timely are the instructions of Biagio Rossetti contained in his Libellus
de rudimentis musices. About the author we know that as a youth, he entered the
schola accolitorum at the Cathedral of Verona where he completed his musical
and theological studies(25. After his investiture as a priest he was named, around
1495, to the group of twelve sacerdoti accoliti who staffed the schola (to be
distinguished from the schola sacerdotum, for the training of clergy in the Cathe-
dral). He also served as organist at the Cathedral and seems to have retained his
duties there until his death (his name can be traced in the records until 1547).
Among his charges, in the 1520s, was Vincenzo Ruffo, whose <early music edu-
cation>, to quote one scholar'26), <can be reconstructed from the chant treatise of
Biagio Rossetti? (Ruffo probably became maestro di cappella at the Cathedral in
1552).
The Libellus presumably was used as a textbook on music and choral singing
by the boys in the schola accolitorum, indeed, Rossetti remarked at the outset of
the section <de Choro, et Organo Compendium> that <<already having presented
and clarified the rudiments of music whereby the boys may form an idea of its
principles, it remains for us to say something, as best we can, about choral singing
and its practice, also about the abuses to be removed >>27). Though Rossetti's
comments on chants and their rendition form the body of the writing, scholars
seem to have bypassed them to focus on his discussion of four kinds of organ

(25) Details of his scanty biography are recorded in Alessandro Sala, I musicisti veronesi (1500-1879):
saggio storico, critico (Verona: Drucker & Tedeschi, 1879), p. 8, and in Antonio Spagnolo, <Le
scuole accolitali di grammatica e di musica in Verona>, Atti e memorie dell'Accademia d'Agricoltura,
Scienze, Lettere, Arti e Commercio di Verona, 80 (Ser. IV, Vol. V, 1904-1905), 97-330, esp. p. 142.
Rossetti seems to have been the brother-in-law of Vincenzo Rossetti, the translator of Stefano
Vanneo's treatise into Latin (Recanetum de musica aurea, 1533); both he and Vincenzo are mentio-
ned under the matematici (sic) in Francesco Scipione Maffei, Verona illustrata (Verona: Jacopo
Vallarsi & Pierantonio Berno, 1731-1732), II, 391. About the schola accolitorum (originally the
mensa acolythorum founded by Pope Eugene IV in 1440), see Spagnolo above, also Giuseppe
Turrini, La tradizione musicale a Verona dagli inizi fino al secolo XVII nel patrimonio bibliografico
(Verona: Valdonega, 1953; Turrini describes the schola as the only ,<musico-didactic>> institution
in the city, p. 26), and more recently Alan Preston, <<Sacred Polyphony in Renaissance Verona:
A Liturgical and Stylistic Study)) (unpubl. Ph. D. diss., University of Illinois, 1969), Chaps. 1-2.
(26) Preston, op. cit., p. 13. The chant treatise appears to be Rossetti's only known writing (yet his
nephew Giovanni Padovano mentions a treatise on organ playing, no longer extant); cf. Enrico
Paganuzzi on Verona in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (Kassel: Barenreiter, 1949-1968,
14 vols., plus supplement, 1973/79, 2 vols.), XIII, col. 1504.
(27) < Habitis itaque atque utcumque enucleatis musices rudimentis quibus pueri ad eius principia infor-
mentur, reliquum est, ut de Choro, atque eius observatione, abusibusque tollendis non nihil pro
nostra virili subinferamus> (Libellus, fol. i i).

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playing in vocal music(28'. Which is unfortunate, for Rossetti seems to make his
most significant statement in connection with vocal performance.
Like Rutgerus, Rossetti was preoccupied with the relation between words
and music from both a musical and a devotional standpoint: in the title he speaks
of his intention to write about the rudimenta musices and about a fitting celebration
of the sacred rites (?... De modo debite solvendi divinum pensum... >). Rossetti
repeats much that was said by the patristic writers on the devotional aspects. To
these he added the concerns of the humanist with a clear and comprehensible
delivery (the studia humanitatis were introduced at the Cathedral school as early
as 1477)(29). The link between the Christian and humanist dimensions of Rossetti's
activity is the emphasis placed in both on the word. Since the point of singing
psalms and hymns is to usher the faithful via words into the realm of sacred
thought, it is important, Rossetti noted, for the words to be uttered in their
entirety whenever and wherever you pray(3"', for in hearing them ?the inner
devotion of the mind is excited by the organ of the outer voice >'3". To understand
is preliminary to being moved, yet for the meaning of the words to be grasped,
hence serve as a stimulus to devotion, they must be sung carefully and intelligibly.
The Church Fathers, to be sure, had said as much, though they tended to urge
singing more with the heart than with the voice(32. Rossetti differs from them,
however, in clinching his general remarks by explicit instructions: the singer is
told how an apprehensible and affective rendition of the words may, in fact, be
achieved.
Rossetti introduces his treatment of accentuation and pronunciation by distin-
guishing two kinds of relation between music and grammar, that is, language. The

:2S) An exception is Robert Haas who refers summarily to the portions that deal with rules of decorum
in singing and with corruptions of pronunciation (Auffuhrungspraxis der Musik [Wildpark-Potsdam:
Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft Athenaion, 1931], 109f., 127f.) - Arnold Schering dismissed
these portions, noting that they <hardly sketch a flattering picture of church singers of the time?>
(Auffuhrungspraxis alter Musik [Leipzig: Quelle & Mayer, 1931; reprint, Wiesbaden: Martin San-
dig, 1969], p. 43n.). Neither Haas nor anyone else, as far as known, considers the theorist's
directives on singing for their pertinence to the broad question of word-tone relations in the
Renaissance.
(') Cf. Preston, < Sacred Polyphony >, p. 13. According to him, < the problem of the correct declam
of syllables and words is... the basic problem that characterizes the humanistic approach to
study of chant at the cathedral schools> (ibid., p. 49).
('3"' ?His igitur horis insistentes curemus omni opera dictiones, syllabasque in integrum proferre,
si privatim in aedibus aut in templo persolvamus?, Libellus, fol. k iiir.
'(3) ?Necesse est nam per exterioris vocis organum excitari devotionem interiorem mentis>> (loc. cit.
(32) John Chrysostom, for one, wrote that <one is also at liberty to chant without a voice, pro
the mind resound inwardly>> (?<Exposition of Psalm 41 >, in Jacques P. Migne, ed., Patrolo
graecae cursus completus [Paris: Garnier, 1857-1866, 166 vols.], LV, col. 159); Jerome, for ano
quoted from Ephesians 5:19, which reads: ?Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns
spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord>> (Commentariorum
Epistolam ad Ephesios libri tres, in Migne, ed., Patrologiae latinae cursus completus [Paris: Garni
1841-1905, 221 vols.], XXVI, col. 528).

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first is with music the mistress and grammar its servant, as in <<Responsories,
Graduals and Introits where you find ligatures, melismas and various connected
groups: in these we cannot alter the order, long observed, [of their presentation],
for we are bound to perform all the musical embellishments [as written]. Here
grammar is the handmaiden of music, as was asserted by the most discerning
philosophers Archytas and Aristoxenus: they said that grammar was subordinate
to music >(33). In these works, replete with ligatures and melismata, long syllables
are sometimes shortened and short ones sometimes prolonged (by one or more
ligatures). Nor can we do anything about these infractions of accentuation, indeed,
they should be tolerated, for in embellished items, to repeat, music leads, language
follows.

The second kind of relation between music and grammar is with music now
the servant and grammar its mistress, to quote Rossetti: <In hymns, in proses or
sequences and in psalms and antiphons we are able to make of the maidservant
grammar a mistress. Hence when we deliver a short syllable, we ought to shorten
the note of the melody, even if there are two notes to one short syllable of a
word>>(34). Rossetti thus advocates the differentiation of accented and unaccented
syllables by commensurate rhythmic changes. As an example he gives the equi-
rhythmic pattern, y .-

Do - mi - ne

which he then alters to form _,

Do - mi - ne

Thus the phrase <<Domine labia me aperies>> (written

would be performed as C. 0(. d 0 0 0 0 (36)

Do - mi-ne la - bi- a me- a a - pe - ri-es

(33) <... exceptis responsoriis, gradualibus, et introitibus, in quibus sunt ligatu

coniunctionum in his nequimus ordinem diu observatum permutare quia deb
colores musicae, et hic grammatica ancilla est musicae sicut affirmaverunt vates
namque et Aristoxenus subiectam musicae grammaticen dixerunt>> (Libellus de
fol. c iiv).
(34) <... sed in hymnis et prosis vel sequentiis et in psalmis et antiphonis possumus de ancilla grammatica
facere dominam, ut quando pronunciamus syllabam brevem debemus abreviare notulam cantus
etiam si fuerint duae notulae supra unam syllabam dictionis brevem... > (loc. cit.).
(35) Ibid., fol. c iii.
'6' Ibid., fol. k iii' (the words are from Psalm 50:16).

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 Rossetti's division of plainsong into melismatic and syllabic varieties, each
with its own customs of textual alignment, may be extended by analogy to mensural
music. Together with plainsong, cantus figuratus, i.e., polyphony, was regularly
performed in the Veronese cathedral, and one assumes that the choristers in the
acolyte school were trained to handle both. Early in the sixteenth century the
maestro di canto at the school was supplemented by a maestro di canto figurato 3",
and the latter officiated as maestro di cappella at the Cathedral. True, Rossetti
drafted his instructions for performance with reference to plainsong, but in their
content they are relevant to counterpoint too. Common to both is the distinction
between syllabic and melismatic styles, each of which premises different ways of
accommodating notes and syllables to one another. The implications of Rossetti's
remarks on plainsong for mensural music may be summarized thus: 1. the more
syllabic the style of chant or polyphony, the tighter the relationship between the
music and the accentual-syntactical properties of its text; 2. the more melismatic
the style, the looser the relationship between them; 3. nothing should be done
about altering improprieties of accentuation in melismatic writing - they are
intrinsic to the idiom; 4. in syllabic or neumatic writing, on the other hand, the
singers may introduce changes for the sake of an improved accentuation.
Just as the rhythm of the music was to correspond to the accentuation of the
text, so the phrasing of the music was to correspond to the endings and divisions
of the text. Or so Rossetti would lead us to assume from his examples. There he
draws lines, to indicate breaks or rests, at significant divisions of the text, for
example, in the middle of a psalm verse, between its members: ?Deus in adiuto-
rium meum intende / Domine ad adiuvandum me festina> (Psalm 70:1); or he
draws lines between units of two, three or four words, to clarify their grouping:
<<Gloria patri et filio / et spiritui sancto / sicut erat in principio / et nunc et semper
/ et in saecula saeculorum amen? (the Lesser Doxology). Yet such divisions were
not always properly observed, as clear from the various <good? (bene) and <bad?
(male) renditions that Rossetti quoted 38):
Good: In habitatione sancta / Coram ipso ministravi.
Bad: In habitatione / sancta cora[m] / ipso ministravi.
In addition to inserting virgules, Rossetti clarifies the syntactical structure by
making rhythmical changes. Longer notes are employed to mark the ends of
parallel members of psalm verses or their component word groups - Rossetti
signs them as whole notes in the bene versions of the phrases he gives (we indicate
them here by capitalizing their respective syllables): ?Domine labia meA / ape-

(37) Girolamo Richini initiated the line, to be followed by Francesco Franzosi (1518-1521), Francesco
Gallo (1521-1524), Francesco da Lodi (1525-1527), and so on (after Die Musik in Geschichte und
Gegenwart, XIII, col. 1504).
') Libellus, fol. k iv*. Rossetti intentionally omitted the m in coram to illustrate a mispronunciation.
For text, see Liber Usualis, p. 1259 (Ecclesiasticus 24:14).

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riES: / et os meum annunciaBIT / laudem tuAM,? or ?Gloria patri et filiO / et
spiritui sanCTO / sicut erat in principio / et nunc et semPER / et in saecula
saeculorum amen / alleluIA,> etc. These larger values not only divide the text
but also direct the singer to linger to a greater or lesser degree on the last note
of its members. The fact that the male versions of the examples do not contain
virgules and whole notes suggests that the difference between observing or not
observing verbal syntax is as that between a sensitive and a slovenly manner of
performance.
As we know, the theorists of polyphonic music were much concerned with
the proper relation between music and syntax. They advised composers to locate
rests and cadences in accordance with the textual structure. Gioseffo Zarlino, for
example, insisted that <<composers take care to have the parts of the text [properly]
divided and the meanings of the words heard and grasped in their entirety>(39).
Similar statements may be gleaned from the writings of any number of theorists
in the Renaissance'".

Another prescription of Rossetti's upon which later theorists enlarged w

his warning never to repeat words or syllables. <You should be mindful to te
boys, when they sing the chants to texts, never to repeat syllables or words beyon
their first statement, for it is a fault committed without reason (41). That Rossett
found it necessary to admonish singers against such a practice suggests that
rule of a single statement of words was subject to notable infractions. T
occurred, we are told'42', in the sections Benedicamus domino and Deo gratias
feasts of the apostles or in Agnus Dei movements (for example, <<miserere, m
rere nobis>>). Rossetti invokes common sense as a guide for delivering the t
- verbal repetition <is a defect committed without reason>. Only becaus
ascribes such importance to a natural reading and sequence of words can
understand the vehemence of his argument against whatever, in music, seem
represent their unnatural handling. Rossetti wished to uphold the convention
a clear, incisive discourse.

(39) <I1 che fa dibisogno, che li Compositori etiandio avertiscano; accioche li Membri della orati
siano divisi, et la sentenza delle parole si oda, et intenda interamente,: Le istitutioni harmon
(Venice, 1558; facs. ed., New York: Broude Brothers, 1965), p. 212.
'" Stefano Vanneo, Recanetum de musica aurea (1533), fol. 93v; Giovanni del Lago, Breve introdut
di musica misurata (1540), p. [40]; Gaspar Stoquerus, De musica verbali (c. 1570), fol. 30v; Piet
Pontio, Ragionamento di musica (1588), p. 139; Thomas Morley, A Plain and Easy Introduc
to Practical Music (1596), ed. R. Alec Harman, 291-292; etc.
(41) <<Et memor eris docere pueros quando canunt cantus cum verbis nunquam debeant repl
syllabas, vel dictiones, nisi semel, quia est vitium sine ratione factum... (Libellus, fol. c iii). F
similar passages in the writings on cantus figuratus, cf. Giovanni Maria Lanfranco, Scintille di mu
(1533), p. 69; Nicola Vicentino, L'antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica (1555), fol. P
Zarlino, op. cit., p. 341; Stoquerus, op. cit., fol. 35v; Lodovico Zacconi, Prattica di musica (159
1622), I, fols. 57, 80; Pedro Cerone, El melopeo y maestro (1613), I, 70, 415-416; etc.
(42) Libellus, fol. c iii.

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 From a performer's standpoint, some of Rossetti's most interesting observa-
tions concern the delivery of words. Here four kinds of instructions may be
distinguished: those for pronunciation, those for breathing, those for tempo and
those for expression. We shall consider the four in turn (3):

1. Pronunciation

Among the corruptions that Rossetti strove to eliminate from performance"4',

we have already discussed misaccentuations. To these he adds still further corru
tions: they fall, one and all, under the heading of barbarisms, and like so man
later writers (Vanneo, del Lago, Coclico, Vicentino, Zarlino, Salinas, Tigri
Zacconi, Morley), Rossetti pressed for their immediate removal. After tabulati
a wide variety of abuses, he concluded that ?he who seeks to avoid barbarity
all these matters should embrace [the writings of] Priscian: there he will recei
sufficient instruction regarding them all>(45). By barbarisms of pronunciation
intended at least six different abuses:

1. Nasalizing vowels, a practice that seems to have been widespread in early

church singing (note the pinched expression on the singers in the choir of angels
depicted by Hubert van Eyck, Ghent, Cathedral of St. Bavon). Rossetti does not
actually use the verb <to nasalize>, rather he speaks of breaking a melisma on a
syllable by adding an unwanted consonant to its vowel. As examples he gives the
words Alleluia and Domino, dividing them into syllables as
A-a-an-an-an-an-le-lu-u-u-um-um-um-ia and Do-o-o-on-on-on-on-mi-no (4'.
Thus Rossetti urges a clean performance, one where the vowels are sustained for
the full number and duration of the notes assigned to them.
2. Running together words(47) either by dropping syllables from one or more of
them (e.g., Domine labia mea aperies turning into Domi- labia me- -peries) or by
carrying over an end consonant to form the first letter of the next word (e.g.,
requiem aeternam turning into requiem meternam, or saeculorum amen into saecu-
lorum mamen). Rossetti refers to those ?who, appending the final letter of one
word to another, confuse meanings?, advising them, two pages later, to be ?ex-
tremely careful lest such abuses increase>>8).

(43) Unless otherwise indicated, the references are to fols. k iii" - I ii.
(44') ... et de auferendis nonnullis abusibus in dei templo> (after the title of his treatise).
(4) <<Qui enim horum omnium querit vitare barbariem Priscianum amplectatur: et in omnibus affatim
erudietur> (Libellus, fol. 1 i').
(46 Further examples are Dominus vobiscum turning into Dominus vo biscon, con spiritu tuo into con
spiritu tuon, Deo into Deon or Deo no, Deum into Deum non, salve into san naive, decora into
deconoora, and so on.
(47) <<... plures [dictiones] adinvicem collidentes> (fol. k iiiv). Rossetti criticizes singers, moreover, who
elide words by swallowing their letters (<qui absorbentes litteras collidunt>, ibid.).
4) ?... qui ... certo finalem litteram unius dictionis alteri annectentes significata confundunt> (fol. k
iii>); ?<... summe ergo cavendum ne tales abusus prevaleant>> (fol. k iv').

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3. Omitting a letter from the middle of a word (e.g., a(d)iutorium)(49) or from the
end of one (e.g., spiritu(i), where the dative is corrupted to the ablative). The
omission may be more extensive, involving a word or even a whole portion of
speech (in one of the male versions of his examples Rossetti deletes the six words
?et os meum annunciabit laudem tuam? that constitute the second member of
their psalm verse)(50).
4. Adding a letter to the middle of a word (e.g., g to alleluia, hence allelugia
5. Altering the ending of a word by replacing two letters by one (e.g., s
becoming so, or adiutorium becoming adiutorio) or one letter by two (e.g., i
becoming illum) (5).
6. Compressing two adjacent vowels of one word into a single syllable (e.g.,
two syllables of tua pronounced as one) or, more frequently, eliding the end v
of one word and the beginning vowel of another (e.g., exaltate eum becomin
exaltateum) (52). Rossetti differentiates between (Latin) prose that admits no elision
and (Latin) poetry, that is, metrical verse, where elisions do sometimes occu
< In singing psalms>>, he writes, <<it is unfitting to observe that metrical law where
vowels and the letter m are frequently absorbed by the subsequent vowel, f
here it is a question of simple speech, not of metrical numbers ?(53). That the rulin
about no elisions in prose was not always observed appears from his gen
comment that ?<in this regard I could cite infinite abuses, but I omit them
brevity' sake >>4). As to poetry, he recognizes two kinds of elision (see quotat
above): combining the final vowel of one word with the initial vowel of anoth
- as an example we might suggest the verse in phalaecean meter <Viva/m
mea / Lesbl/a,.atque a/memfis (Catullus)(55); suppressing the final m (usually
- Ed.) of one word before another beginning with a vowel - as an example w
might suggest the verse in lesser asclepiadic meter < Exe/gi m6nf/ment(um) / aerd
pe/renni/s >> (Horace) (56)
A final remark that impinges on pronunciation is the direction that sing
ought not to open their mouth too wide. Doing so, Rossetti explains, makes

(49) Further examples: dom(i)nus, ter(r)a, o(m)nia, la(u)date. About the change from a double
single m in commendo, Rossetti writes that thus ?they make men [rightly co - Ed.] a short sylla
(fol. I ii).
(5) Psalm 50:16 (see above).
(51) The m here may result from nasalization (see no. 1 above).
(52) Further examples: venite exultemus becoming venitexultemus, portae aeternales becoming porte
nales.
(53) < Psallentes enim non decet observare legem metricam: qua saepius vocales, et littera .m. absorbe
tur ab subsequente vocali, hic namque agitur pedestri sermone, non numeris metricis>> (Libel
fol. I i-iv).
(4) <<Et circa haec possem infinitos adducere abusus: sed brevitatis causa omitto? (fol. 1 i*).
(55) Carmina 5:1 (ed. Henri Bardon [Stuttgart: B. G. Teubner, 1973], p. 6).
(56) Carmina III.xxx.1 (ed. Friedrich Klingner [Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1939], p. 106).

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difficult to achieve continuity in singing, indeed, it slows down the delivery of
syllables or of words(5". The aperture of the mouth should be no wider, he advises,
than the space needed to insert the fourth finger (digitus auricularis).

2. Breathing

<<He sings easily , Rossetti maintains, <<who knows how to breathe and where
it is best to make breaks>>(58). The precepts he outlines in this regard59) derive
largely from verbal considerations, indeed, the very notion of proper breathing,
as Rossetti develops it, is an extension of his view of music as inevitably bound
to words and their syntactical structure. His remarks may be summarized as
follows:

1. Never take a breath within a word, unless out of absolute necessity(60). Rossetti
expands upon this first regulation by a similar one concerning dissyllables: never
should the singer take a breath between the syllables of a two-syllable word6".
As with Rutgerus, so with Rossetti the word is the basic unit of articulation.
2. In a melisma two factors bear on breathing: the capacity of the human voice
[to sustain the melisma in its entirety], the structure of the melodic line'62).
3. Breathe steadily in leaping a third, a fourth or a fifth - the lower and upper
notes of these intervals should be equal in strength (by attacking either of them,
one <<offends the ears of the listeners>>) 63)

4. Breathing should be moulded to the contour of the melody, that is, its natural
rise and fall64).

(57) ?... non possunt continuare cantum, et redduntur tardi ad proferrendum syllabas, vel dictiones>>
(fol. c iv).
(5') ? ... quia leviter canit: qui bene novit respirare, et facere pausas in locis competentibus > (loc. cit.).
'5"' On fols. c iii-iv, k iv-iv'.
(<") ... neque tamen respirandum est ante ultimam cuiusvis dictionis syllabam, nisi cum plures fuerint
notulae soli syllabae superpositae: tunc enim necessitate urgente poterit cantor post non ultimam
dictionis syllabam respirare> (fol. c iii-iii*).
'"' ?... et si dictio constat ex duabus syllabis nequaquam debet fieri pausa inter duas syllabas>> (fol.
c iii).
' The second factor may be surmised from his comment that <in the descending melody [of a neuma]
a breath must be taken after its last note of descent?, (the whole portion reads: <<Et si cantus
ascenderit, vel descenderit sine littera, vel syllaba, et cum neumis: tunc nobis conceditur facere
pausas secundum complexionem vocis humanae. Ideoque in cantu descendendo ad ultimam descen-
dentem debemus facere pausam... >; fol. c iiiv).
()"" Et quando facis diapente, vel diatessaron, vel ditonum in cantando dic leviter cum anhelitu, et
emitte aequaliter vocem, et anhelitum: exempli gratia quando cantas re la, illam syllabam la, multi
conantur quo maxime possunt impetu proferre quod multum displicet auribus audientium... > (ibid.).
<) ... oportet ascendere, vel descendere leviter cum harmonia, et cum auditu suavi, quod faciens,
bene et optime cantabis cum delectatione...> (ibid.).

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5. Breathe evenly in ligatures and melismas65.
6. Breathe <<easily and unperturbedly? during rests 66).
7. Never take a breath within a ligature(67) (which is another way of saying: never
breathe between the notes apportioned to a single syllable).
Rossetti would have all breathing done evenly, steadily and effortlessly in
order to achieve equality of sound (<aequalitas concentus, aut vocis>)'68. He
counsels the singer to avoid breathing by fits and starts (<<holding the breath at
times under the palate, only to disgorge it with greater violence ?)(69'. The singer
should keep to a middle course between those who <<press their teeth together>,
hence emit a thin stream of sound, and those who breathe with inordinate vigor70).

3. Tempo

Still another requisite of good singing is choosing the right tempo. For Rossetti
a tempo that is <<right> is one that is moderate, yet flexible. His examples are so
written that, for the most part, the ?good? versions appear in longer (white) notes
and the ?bad? ones in shorter (black) notes. By this differentiation Rossetti
wished to illustrate that words in the former are sung in a moderate tempo whereas
their rendition in the latter proceeds almost twice as quickly, at an excessive speed.
Not only should the general pace of delivery be reasonable, but, once determined,
it should be uniformly maintained for the duration of the example (<<observing
one norm of delivery lest the verse of the psalm be found to be faster at the
beginning, in the middle or at the end... The psalms should be sung evenly >)'71.
The only exception admitted to the rule of a steady tempo is at the very opening
or conclusion of a piece or phrase: Rossetti would have the singer linger on the
first and next to last notes. <We ought to extend the penultimate note of any
song slightly longer than the others in order to indicate that the song is approaching
its close>>(72 - the ruling holds without distinction for melismatic and syllabic
endings 73

('' << ... et quando pervenerint ad ligaturas, vel neumas, fac: ut anhelitus feriat palatum plane>> (fols.
c iii'-iv).
'o) Quando autem pausandum est: fac ut respirent facili modo, et non cum anxietate...> (fol. c iv).
(67) <Cave autem ne aliquando inter ligaturas respires>> (ibid.).
(6' Libellus, fol. k ivv.
(6) ... modo non contineatur aliquando spiritus sub palato, et post violentius evomatur?> (fol. k iv-ivv).
(7" < ... qui et dentes aliquando comprimunt, aliquando spiritu vehementiore proloquuntur... >> (fol. k
ivv).
(71) ,... semper unam normam pronunciationis servantes ne velocius principium, medio, fine ne versus
psalmi inveniatur... quum aequaliter psalmodiam concinnere oporteat? (fol. k iii').
(72) < ... quod penultimam notulam cuiusvis cantus paulo longiorem aliis protrahamus, ut fini cantum
propinquare significemus> (fol. 1 ii).
(73) <... ubi tam occurrat finire per neumas: quam notulas singulis syllabis appropriatas? (loc. cit.).

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4. Expression

Related to the question of tempo is still another requisite of good singing,

the determination of a suitable expression for the various portions of the liturgy(7'.
Differences in function and character impose differences in rate of speed and
manner of performance. In Introits we ?excite ourself to divine worship>; they
are to be sung loudly (alte) and briskly (alacriter). Tracts <<mark toil and affliction >;
Rossetti would have us intone them slowly (tractim), with a certain harshness of
voice (<cum asperitate vocum>). In Graduals we proceed steadily (plane), though
protractively (protense), in a soft or <<lowered>> voice (<<humiliataque voce>>). In
the Alleluia we <<rejoice sweetly> in the delights of a <<heavenly song of mirth>>;
its performance should be appropriately joyful, then. Sequences or ?songs of
exaltation>> should be sung exuberantly (exaltanter); Offertories and Communions
wherein we <render thanks and praise to the Lord for his revelations>> should be
sung gravely (graviter).
Like so many writers before and after him Rossetti recognized that the singer
should model his rendition after the words. The idea of composing and performing
music in conformity to the demands of the text may be traced to various ancient
and medieval authorities: Plato, for one, wrote that ?the melody and rhythm will
depend upon the words>(75); Guido d'Arezzo, for another, wrote that ?the content
of the music ought, likewise, to imitate the circumstances of its words in such a
way that in sad matters its notes are serious, in peaceful matters pleasing, in
favorable matters joyful, and so on with the rest>>'76). Yet the most widespread
application of the idea occurred in the Renaissance. Starting with Gaffurius, it
could be found at the base of the humanist doctrine exposed by Vicentino, Zarlino,
Stoquerus and others77. The idea still prevails, indeed, Rossetti's requirement of
proper expression, along with his prescriptions for natural breathing, comfortable
tempi, correct pronunciation and careful accentuation, became part of the ars
canendi as practiced from the seventeenth century on through the great age of
bel canto and down to the twentieth century. Thus the instructions of the early
writers, among them Rutgerus, Rossetti, have relevance as belonging to an ancient,
yet modern performing tradition that reached one of its high points in the Renais-
sance art of song.

(74) Cf. Libellus, fol. 1 ii-iiv.

(75) The Republic, III.398d.8-9 (tr. Benjamin Jowett, The Dialogues of Plato, 3rd ed. [London: Oxford
University, 1892, 5 vols.], III, 84).
(76) Item ut rerum eventus sic cantionis imitetur effectus, ut in tristibus rebus graves sint neumae, in
tranquillis iocundae, in prosperis exultantes et reliqua>> (Micrologus, ed. J. Smits van Waesberghe
[Rome: American Institute of Musicology, 1955], p. 174).
(77) Gaffurius, Practica musicae (Milan: Guillaume Le Signerre, 1496; facs. ed., Farnborough: Gregg,
1967), fol. 48; Vicentino, L'antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica (Rome: Antonio Barre,
1555; facs. ed., Kassel: Barenreiter, 1959), fol. P ii; Zarlino, op. cit., pp. 172, 204, 339; Stoquerus,
op. cit., fols. 3, 16, 24; others were Agricola, del Lago, Coclico, Finck, Quickelberg, Pontio,
Morley, Cerone, and so on.

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 As we know, Rutgerus' remarks were echoed in the rubrics of the Liber
Usualis. Rossetti's remarks, moreover, were restated in various forms by the
theorists of mensural music. Which raises a central question: can one speak, in
Western art music, of a performing tradition that - allowing for exceptions
remained more or less continuous from earlier to later times?
I failed to call attention, in my exposition, to an important writing from th
thirteenth century, the Instituta patrum de modo psallendi sive cantandi'78'. It i
one of the first practical manuals on singing79. Its author claims to have transmitted
the instructions of the <<ancient Holy Fathers>, to quote him: <<Our ancient Hol
Fathers taught and instructed their charges, warning them to observe the following
code of performance and to uphold its practices of singing or chanting in their
choirs. They argued and asserted that the offering of our praises thereby becom
pleasant and agreeable unto God ,8 (). Whether these <<Holy Fathers? were the
patres ecclesiae of the early Christian era or more recent liturgical authorities (v
Dijk took the term to mean ?abbots and liturgical authorities esteemed by the
author and his contemporaries>>), they insisted that it was not enough to sing, one
must sing sweetly (<modulari, id est dulciter cantare?). Good singing, the autho
of the Instituta writes after them, requires training, and <if we try to imitate i
practices by careful study, we will succeed in... singing to God in our hearts wit
the mind and the spirit... We ought then to persevere in this discipline of chanting
in order for... our mind to agree with our voice>>(8).
It should be emphasized that the problems that the author of the Institut
attempted to solve in the thirteenth century were basically the same problem
that Rutgerus, Rossetti and others attempted to solve in a later period. Not onl
that, but the solutions proposed by the early writer were basically the same
solutions proposed by the later ones.
The problems were, in short, tempo, expression, articulation, accentuation
word repeats. For their solution, the author of the Instituta urges the singer (1

(78) Cf. Gerbert, ed., Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra potissimum, I, 5-8.
(79) Opinions differ on the origins of the Instituta. J. Smits van Waesberghe ascribes it to Ekkehard V
(first half of thirteenth century), author of Notker Balbulus' Vita. He identifies it, then, as compose
in and for the Benedictine monastery of St. Gall (Muziekgeschiedenis der Middeleeuwen [Tilburg
W. Bermans, 1936-42], II, 197ff.). Yet S. A. van Dijk traces one of its sources to St. Bernar
(1091-1153), hence connects the manual with the twelfth-century Cistercian reform movement (< S
Bernard and the Instituta patrum of Saint Gall>, Musica Disciplina, IV [1950], p. 99). On the basi
of its contents, however, Willi Apel assumed its applicability to <<a considerably earlier practic
(Gregorian Chant [Bloomington: Indiana University, 1958], p. 238n.).
80) <<Sancti Patres nostri antiqui docuerunt et instituerunt subditos suos, praecipientes eis hunc ritum
modulandi servare, talemque formam cantandi sive psallendi in Choris suis tenere, per hanc aff
rentes et affirmantes Deo gratum esse, et placere sacrificium laudis nostrae?, (Instituta, ed. Gerbert
p. 5a).
(81) < Quam formam si diligenti studio imitari conamur, erimus et nos... canentes Deo in cordibus
nostris spiritu et mente... Nos igitur sic stemus in disciplina psallendi, ut... mens nostra concordet
voci...? (Instituta, p. 8).

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to keep a moderate tempo in order for the words to be understood(82); (2) to sing
happily or sadly according to the content of the text'83'; (3) to articulate in accor-
dance with the meanings of the words and their syntax ('); (4) to pay attention to
the correct accentuation of words(85); and (5) to refrain from repeating words(86).
The picture that emerges from this fragmentary exposition of the Instituta is
that there appears to be a certain continuity in the mode of performing music
from earlier to later times, and that the problems that confronted singers were
solved in similar ways within the widely different styles and contexts of Western
art music.

One wonders what sustains this performing tradition as a whole. The general
train of thought behind the remarks of the various authors is that the singer must
observe the structure of the text and its content in order properly to perform the
music. Perhaps it is the primacy of the word in the Western art music tradition
that unites its different styles and practices. From earlier to later times theorists,
humanists, philosophers, emphasized the need for adapting music to speech. To
this end, the musician should, ideally, respect all aspects of the structure and
substance of words. Thus attention should be paid to their accentuation, for the
accent, as ancient and modern writers described it, is ?the soul of the word>> (the
Greeks spoke of the accent as fT ov k6yov ivxni, the Latins as anima verbi, and
so on down to Jean-Jacques Rousseau who, in his Emile, wrote that <l'accent est
l'ame du discours>).
Attention should be paid to the structure of words, that is, their grouping
into phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs, into all units, then, of the syntactical
build of speech.
Attention should be paid to the content of the words, that is, to their subject,
their ideas, their affections. Sad circumstances should be depicted by an appro-
priately sad rendition, happy circumstances by an appropriately happy rendition,
and so forth. The singer should clarify the content by choosing the right tempo
- the <right tempo>, as mentioned, being one that permits the understanding of
the words.

X2) <<Omni tempore aestate vel hyeme, nocte ac die sollemni sive privato, Psalmodia semper pari voce,
aequa lance, non nimis protrahatur; sed mediocri voce, non nimis velociter, sed rotunda, virili,
viva et succincta voce psallatur>> (ibid., p. 6a).
8) <<Ergo cum quidquid agitur pro Defunctis, totum flebili et remissiori debet fieri voce, ut nihil ibi
resonent verba nisi devotum moerorem et humilitatem. In hymnis Te Deum laudamus, Gloria in
excelsis, et Credo in unum... et mediocri voce decantentur. Dum Hymnos vel Responsoria sive
Antiphonas seu Alleluia, Kyrie eleison, Sanctus an Agnus Dei, quaecunque pulchra, suavia ac
dulcia et iocunde sonant... (p. 7a).
( ..... post medium metrum... pausam bonam et competentem faciamus> (p. 6b); <... semper in
Psalmodia punctus et pausa teneantur> (ibid.); <In Hymnis Te Deum laudamus, Gloria in excelsis,
et Credo in unum, sic punctus et pausa fiant, ut intellectus discernatur...>> (p. 7a); <<Solus quidquid
cantet vel legat... intellectui verba distribuat... ut aedificentur audientes>> (p. 7b).
'(5' <<In omni textu Lectionis, Psalmodiae vel cantus, accentus sive concentus verborum (in quantum
suppetit facultas) non negligatur, quia exinde permaxime redolet intellectus? (p. 6).
'' <<Nullus... verba cantata reiterare... praesumat> (p. 6b).

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 To conclude, it would seem that the major force of consolidation both in the
composition and in the performance of vocal music from early to later times is
the word. Such importance as is granted it in the Western world connects with
the ancient rhetorical tradition of Greek and Roman literature and with its resus-
citation by the humanists of the Renaissance, only to be passed on as a legacy to
future generations. Respect of the word - its accents, its structure, its meanings
- appears as the unifying force in the performing tradition of Western art music.
The more closely the singer follows the word, the more convincingly he performs
the music(87)

(87) On the primacy of the word in the Western art music tradition, see, further, Don Harran, <On
the Question of Word-Tone Relations in Early Music)>, Musik und Text in der Mehrstimmigkeit
des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts (Kassel: Barenreiter, 1984), 269-289; and, at length, idem, Word-Tone
Relations in Musical Thought from Antiquity to the Seventeenth Century (Stuttgart: Hanssler-Verlag
for the American Institute of Musicology, 1986), and In Search of Harmony: Hebrew and Humanist
Elements in Sixteenth-Century Musical Thought (ibid., 1987, forthcoming).

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